A Peaceful City
by GalaxyWrites
Summary: Not everyone gets second- or third- chances at life, but multiple near death experiences make even the most simple things all the more special. A short and fluffy Shard the Metal Sonic x Nicole the Lynx (Shardcole/Shardicole) oneshot.


It was tempting- the city being so close. It glowed in the moonlight with a somehow warm radiance, magnificent and regal against the dark horizon. And yet, as close as it was physically, it was still so far away.

A city neither one of them was welcome in, try as they might.

They'd set out just before the sun began to lay beneath the skyline, basking in the sky as it transitioned from blue, to yellow to dark, deep colors of red and purple. Just outside the city, barely influenced by the field Nicole had created for her physical form to manifest, it was peaceful. Tranquil, somehow, completely oblivious to everything in the world going wrong.

Despite Nicole's most insistent protests earlier, Shard couldn't stand to let her leave alone. A simple scan, she said. Wouldn't take long, she promised. Basic and unimportant tasks that she could accomplish in her sleep mode, she'd finally insisted in annoyance. And regardless of it all, he'd followed her. Just as he always did. Stubborn.

What could he say- once a Sonic, always a Sonic. Sort of, anyway.

And now, in the dark cover of night, they sat. Shard was eager to bask in the easy silence between them. Ever since his nearly fatal encounter with Metal Sonic, even the most mundane of tasks or…small, secret 'missions' that Chuck certainly wouldn't need to find out about, had become particularly special. Only once faced with threat of losing them forever were those times truly cherished- Shard had concluded the same rules applied to organics, which offered a strange sense of near accomplishment.

Not everyone got second- or third- chances at those simple moments.

The stars above, the Robian sighed quietly, looking down at the artificial girl in his arms. If there were ever simple moments, this was certainly one. She had drifted off somehow very recently, presumably to recover from all the spinning in her mind from recent events. She still had so much on her brilliant, artificial mind between exile and Mecha Sally- Shard would've been lying to say he hadn't feel badly to add 'make robot moron functional again' to her to-do list. She must have been exhausted. And yet she never stopped, because she knew how many depended on her. Maybe not now- as far as they knew-, and maybe not tomorrow, but someday. And to be ready, she'd accidentally found herself depending on someone else.

Shard didn't take that trust for granted for a nanosecond.

Her head rested gently against his shoulder, her small, original handheld cradled in her lap as he cradled her physical body in his. Her breath was shallow, fake-lungs drawing in very real, crisp, evening air. He found himself ever surprised with how easily she took his breath away- breath he didn't know he had to begin with.

Looking off to the distant city, and then back again to the sleeping lynx, the Robian couldn't help note how…relaxed she looked. No worry clouding her eyes, no sadness behind her smile. In this moment, however long it lasted, just between Nicole and himself, she looked happy. Calm.

So peaceful. So tranquil. Not unlike the city itself, separated as they might be… for now.

Someday, he knew she'd go back there. They'd need her- after all, who wouldn't?- and realize they'd made a terrible mistake in pushing her away. And when that happened, Shard knew that he would…He would have to be okay knowing she wouldn't come back for him. But he could face that eventually, because in this moment, she was happy. With him.

Maybe that was a bit generous, but he'd take it.

He briefly hoped that the others hidden in the underground secret base wouldn't miss them too much tonight, knowing he couldn't bear to wake the fellow artificial intelligence, but it seemed fairly unimportant now anyway. He'd deal with the lectures in the morning.

For now, he was content to watch the city in its quietest hours, basking in moonlit tranquility. And he knew that for once, the city would sleep well that night...right beside him.


End file.
